Category: Opinion

August 19, 2021 – Sad, Short and Sweet

August 19, 2021 /

Today is going to be short. I have already spent a bunch of time working on an obituary which has cut into this time. Happier times are on the horizon though. I have a range schedule booked for tomorrow afternoon.

When I was charged with writing the obituary, I was getting some of the other details of the service and what was going to happen. My wife told me that she was going to ask our pastor to perform the service. I thought back to different services and how they were administered and something struck me.

I have grown up in a family of faithful people on both sides. My maternal grandfather was highly catholic. Unfortunately, grandpa developed dementia and the last two or three years he was in assisted living. When it came time for his service, it was performed by a non-denominational reverend. I am pretty sure that my grandfather would consider that against his Catholic faith. I know that I heard it enough from him that I was following the wrong path and that there was only one true denomination.

Most of my ‘greats’ were also regular church goers but when it came time to have a funeral service, they were performed by someone that really had no connection. I suppose that we age to the point where we lose connection to our former life be it that we can’t physically make the service or move out of necessity. Maybe when we lose the connection, others may not have an idea of where to start?

What I am trying to say is that is saddens me that a funeral service is performed by someone that has never met. I am sure that it is God’s work and that there is probably a formula for it with reverence but it would seem a little dishonest in the end. Nothing against our pastor, I love him and I think he is genuine. If this was my service, then much more appropriate.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t make a lot of distinction between denomination and faith. In the end, I don’t think that it matters. My in-laws had a church that they occasionally attended. It was large enough and they were infrequent enough that they didn’t really have a connection and here we are. There is no real lesson here, I am just writing what is on my mind today.

August 10, 2021 – Covid Strikes Again

August 10, 2021 /

Despite my opinion of how people and media are reacting to Covid, it doesn’t mean that I am a jerk. I found out today that my son and I were exposed to Covid over the weekend. I have been very open about my experience and I am not worried about it in the least. That being said, I don’t want to potentially expose other people until I can confirm I am safe.

That means that we are again in quarantine, at least until we get a negative confirmation. In some ways, this is going to be a good thing. We have some family health issues that called my wife out of state today for an undetermined length of time, likely at least until the end of August. My very own Father in Law is currently in the hospital as a result of pneumonia from Covid.

I am playing both roles (mom and dad) and there are a lot of activities still on the calendar before school starts. I was already planning on spending an hour and a half a day running my son back and forth for his summer job. So, this quarantine will at least help us get our footing as just us boys are home for a few weeks.

It will also help me focus on getting my roofing done. I think that I am a couple hours (4-6) hours from getting all of the shingling done. The downside is that the forecast is predicted to be in the hundreds again. If you know anything about roofing, you know that there is a sweet spot for temperature. You want warm enough for the shingles to be pliable and adhere together but when it gets too warm they start to tear easily and it gets really hot on the roof.

End Your Programming Routine: I may become erratic in the next couple of weeks. I am working around my normal work schedule and all the running around that I usually split with my wife. In addition, I am managing a high workload already plus I have a family vacation scheduled in a couple of weeks.

August 3, 2021 – Five Monkeys and the Pole

August 3, 2021 /

I couldn’t substantiate whether this story was true or not. But it is easy enough to find through internet stories that we could call it a parable. It goes something like this.

Five monkeys were in a cage with a bunch of bananas at the top of a pole. As soon as one of the monkeys started climbing to pole, he would get blasted with water until they all refused to climb the pole. Next one of the monkeys was replaced. Once the new monkey started climbing the pole, the other four monkeys would pull the new monkey down preventing him from attempting to get the bananas. Then another monkey is replaced and the same behavior is emulated. Finally, all the monkeys are new and have never been sprayed yet they have been trained to stop any monkey from climbing the pole without a real consequence.

This story seems to be mostly used in the business space to talk about office culture and to inspire to challenge the status quo. But, I can’t help to think about how we are culturally behaving as a result of Covid-19. Call it cancel culture or public shaming but people are no longer allowed to hold individual opinions that deviate from the cultural norm. And when I say cultural norm, I do mean an ignorant, non-fact based, science is settled kind of way.

The idea that science is settled is actually anti-science. There are a finite number of laws in science. Laws are provable by math and measurement. A theory is when data supports a hypothesis but it is not entirely provable or there is not enough data to support universal adoption as a law. Neither of these terms are codified because this by it’s definition is science; even laws should be continuously challenged to ensure that they are still laws.

Let’s get back to Covid and our culture. We are bombarded with radio, TV and quasi news stories about how the vaccines are safe, do our part, etc. I would call it a propaganda campaign. Admittedly, it must be pretty safe (for now) because a lot of people have gotten the vaccine. But as a scientist, I have a responsibility to challenge the accepted norm because the only way to prove a hypothesis is to test it.

My analysis of the situation is that we have the majority of society that are not qualified as scientist and failed to do their own research. They have abdicated any level of investigation to celebrities or media types rather than challenge the status quo. Given that what I believe, people have the right to be ignorant and even stupid as long as their right does not infringe on mine. In this case, we have people that are now verbally shaming and using non-qualified belief to pull the monkey down from the poll.

These were all memes that I saw yesterday that pertain to the Monkeys and the Poll parable. You can watch my Governor as a science authority within the first five minutes. This wasn’t the clip I was looking for but I think it is a perfect illustration of the propaganda campaign.

Unfortunately, I don’t think that there is much we can do about it. My best suggestion is to be aware of the world that we are living in. Pick your battles because we are not going to be able to fight them all and only the ones worth fighting. Let’s keep our calm so that we don’t make enemies out of potential allies.

End Your Programming Routine: One time I remember in seventh grade science that we had two people holding a string on each end tight. The amount of energy it took for one person to pull the string away from the other was significant. But when a third person pushes in the middle of the string, it takes that much less energy. My point is that we are not going to solve this problem using the strategies of the status quo. We are going to have to address the issue from the side where it is much easier to move the string.

July 7, 2021 – July 4th Tom Foolery

July 7, 2021 /

This was definitely a fourth to remember. Three days later I am still dragging because of late nights and on the go activities. I am not totally sure why I feel different this year than previous but I saw a lot of idiocy like never before.

  1. LAPD blows up their own bomb containment truck with fireworks

Despite what the caption in the picture says, they detonated the fireworks on purpose. What was unexpected was that the truck blew up.

2. Heat Wave Death Toll now Exceeds 100

It is pretty rare to see temperatures above 100 degrees. Many anecdotal reports (mine included) saw gauges reading 117 on Monday for a brief period. Now we are seeing the damage from the heat wave. I don’t think I have ever seen reporting from heat related deaths locally.

3. Ousted State Representative Receives Most Votes to Replace Himself

Mike Nearman was voted out of the Oregon House of Representatives 59-1 for opening the a capitol door January 6, 2021. He was caught on video and subsequently disbarred from the house and capitol. The committee to replace him initially voted to replace Nearman with himself. They have subsequently identified a different candidate.

4. US Evacuates Afghanistan in the Middle of the Night

How do you like that? Finally it looks like my generation’s Vietnam is going to end (officially). We have secure freedom forever now… does that sound sarcastic? It is and it is going to end like it started without a purpose.

There was a lot more that I observed but didn’t get a news article

  • June 29: Portland Oregon bans fireworks. Since they can no longer enforce mask mandates they decided to further make their subjects miserable. My county declined to enact a ban because they said it would end up with a majority of nuisance calls (thank goodness for sanity).
  • July 2, 5PM: Our local celebration stopped selling admission tickets and tickets were not available at the door. We did not buy them cementing our first time not participating locally since we have lived here.
  • July 4, 12PM: The first fourth of July parade not sponsored by the Rotary. With three weeks to go, Paralyzed Veterans of America stepped up and I thought that it was better than usual.
  • July 4, 7:30PM: Our first Fourth of July Rodeo in over twenty years. The crowd was in the mood to get loose. The lady next to me wanted to buy me a drink and I hardly said a word to her. I declined.
  • July 5, 1AM: I watched a man try to put diesel into a pickup when the station was closed. When that failed, he drove to the adjacent truck stop and I lost track of him. About five minutes later he came back and tried three additional pumps before parking (I am hoping for the night).

Over the years I have grown significantly less patriotic. I want to feel good about stealing land from the Native Americans to build something that was special. At least we could claim that even though we took it, we created something better. I think we did for all of the white, protestant males for at least for 200 years.

The philosophy and romanticism of our country’s founding is appealing but either I am watching it change with my own eyes or I was lied to from the beginning. From the ‘Patriot Act’ to the ‘CARE Act’ to a middle east military quagmire so much of the illusion of limited government is gone. With non-essential business’ arbitrarily closed and mask mandates of the last year, this is not my country. Sorry to end on a bit of a downer, but if you saw me staying seated instead of giving a cheering ovation at 245th anniversary of our country, you know why.

End Your Programming Routine: All this writing today was suppose to help me correlate and reconcile all the craziness from last week. I do believe that it was crazier than normal and I suppose the cause was all of the pent up emotion from the previous year. I am going to leave it here.

July 6, 2021 – Didn’t Quite Make it Today

July 6, 2021 /

**Note that this was mostly written on Friday of last week. I didn’t quite finish it before the holiday weekend**

I read a couple of times this week, but the chapter 9 in 1984 was long and dense. I will save all the details for the next posting on the book save to say it is the explanation of ‘War is Peace’ and ‘Ignorance is Strength’. I wanted to get some of this down pat before I write about it.

We are burning to beat the band this week. So many activities are happening that we are jumping from one thing to the next. Every night has something through this week. Another thing that I have been trying to close the loop on is my employment status.

For the first time ever, I needed to provide some references to secure this job. I was also being hounded to get them turned around in one day. I asked three people and got three yeses. One of my references sent me a copy of what was written. I could not believe what was written. I have an excerpt below.

I was very flattered by the response. I know that there was some magic when I took over the role. I had created a very strong and highly performing team quickly by just empowering people to become their full potential. All they needed was to feel like they belonged and were valued, nudged to flex some muscle and do the right thing.

I am not totally sure if my reference wanted me to read this to sort of prove how this person valued our relationship or it was really under the guise of making sure the message made it through the system. I kind of think that it is the former rather than the latter.

I still have conversations with some of the people that I used to work with. In fact, one of them organized a reunion of sorts for a golf outing later this month. I have never really continued meaningful relationships with former co-workers. It must be unique if I am deviating from my typical personality.

End Your Programming Routine: I suppose that it is self-evident that relationships should be maintained. I have provided a number of references for previous coworkers before. There is just something humbling about people going out of their way to give compliments. I am thankful that people are willing to speak their mind in such short order. It is why I believe that there is something to karma.

June 23, 2021 – Is the US becoming North Korea?

June 23, 2021 /

I ran across this article the other day. I am a sucker for articles about North Korea because I like to see the type of shenanigans that are happening. But I never drew the conclusion that the same kind of tactics that North Korea uses are showing up here.

This is an article written about an North Korean defector that is now a student at Columbia. Her name is Yeonmi Park and has even written a book about the escape. This is definitely something I am interested in looking into.

Yeonmi has some quotes that are just spectacular.

“The people here are just dying to give their rights and power to the government. That is what scares me the most,” the human right activist said.  

She accused American higher education institutions of stripping people’s ability to think critically.

“In North Korea I literally believed that my Dear Leader [Kim Jong-un] was starving,” she recalled. “He’s the fattest guy – how can anyone believe that? And then somebody showed me a photo and said ‘Look at him, he’s the fattest guy. Other people are all thin.’ And I was like, ‘Oh my God, why did I not notice that he was fat?’ Because I never learned how to think critically.”

“That is what is happening in America,” she continued. “People see things but they’ve just completely lost the ability to think critically.”

For some reason, WordPress is limited to embedding media within certain sources. And Fox News is not one of them. I really encourage you to take a look at the entire piece if you are into the subject. I half expected to not find it two weeks later, but it is still there.

End Your Programming Routine: Make no mistake that I think Fox News is any more a beacon of liberty than CNN or MSNBC. Remember, it is the other side of the dichotomy so they work hand in hand with their counterparts in advancing the machine. However, this one is a gem.

June 14, 2021 – Never Quit, Unless You Want to be Happy

June 14, 2021 /

This was graduation weekend last weekend and my nephew got his bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice. I love graduation, I think it is the best feeling weekend of the year. There is so much hope, optimism and genuine happiness, particularly at the higher level. Most of the graduates are in their early twenties but if you look around there are many non-traditional students as well. Everyone is smiling and celebrating. And unlike high school, blood and treasure was expended to get this degree; it was earned.

Since he lived with us from eighth grade through high school, this was close to a child graduating. Normally, I don’t write about other people but I will make an exception today for the graduation speech that should be given. For simplicity sake, I am going to use his first name, Isaac.

Obviously, if he ended up living with us then not everything was as good as it should have been. He had the dream and capability but he needed the structure and support to reach full potential. He dreamed of helping people when he entered the world and to him it was becoming a police officer.

During the course of studying criminal justice, Isaac enrolled in the cadet program with a local police department. In the program, cadets perform auxiliary support for events like crowd control and get exposed to the life. It also puts them on a list to be hired if an opening appears and builds the resume with practical experience. So, it is a good step in goal setting and achieving the dream.

Somewhere along the way in the last year, dreams change. Isaac moved into the our little house in the back that I remodeled last year with his girlfriend of several years. Early in the calendar year, he decided that he wanted to go into a different direction and work in the social services area, not being a police officer. So, he quit in a sense.

Now, we are going to slight shift. I am pretty open minded but I try to stay arms length at other’s relationships until I know that it is going to progress into permanency. It looked like this one was going to but there were some things not quite right. You have to understand that when someone lives in your backyard, I notice a lot. And, it is not because I am watching and waiting, but I see the body language and the coming and going.

For instance, they didn’t appear to have anything in common. She had friends but they were not really his. They didn’t really do anything together, some of that was circumstantial because of school being a priority. There was a vibe that this was progressing seriously but couldn’t sustainably. I will make a long story short in that they broke up right before graduation.

The graduation party that we held this last weekend had some unspoken temperance and somberness to it. It didn’t have the unbridled exuberance that it should have had because of course, emotion was raw. When a life is built on one premise and that suddenly changes so do the dynamics. Finally, to my point.

There is a saying “When is the best time to plant a tree”? The answer is ten years ago and the next best time is today. When you quit a relationship that isn’t working or a career path that doesn’t fulfill, you are free to pursue one that does. And, ultimately isn’t that the path to true happiness?

Failing and quitting are not quite the same thing. Failing is in the act of whereas as quitting is in spite of. Our culture does hold those two things in different regards. One might be celebrated while the other might be admonished. We have all heard ‘Quitters never prosper’ but is that really true? What are they quitting? Is is toxic or soul crushing, it it preventing true happiness?

While the timing was less than ideal, we are planting a tree here. Isaac being in his early twenties is a good enough time to get started. Life is transitioning in the biggest way possible at this time. This is when he is truly moving out and up.

End Your Programming Routine: I want to say that quitters will prosper if they are looking for a better replacement or at least trying something out. There is no way to know if a career path is a good fit without trying it. If you pursue things because of sunk cost fallacy or to please someone else then you risk being miserable in the process.

We always have a choice. It may be that the cost is deep and the effort is high but that is not no choice. There is a smart way to quit, so don’t be stupid. Ask for help and support. Have a rough idea of a transition plan and hope for the best. After all, this is your life at stake.

June 7, 2021 – Un-masked

June 7, 2021 /

This last weekend we were our and about. We started out Saturday morning at the local Saturday Market. Then we went to Costco, the local grocery store and then to the local brewery for dinner. I didn’t put my mask on for any of it. This state is still trying to waffle through it’s desire to control the population and the reality that it is eventually going to loose.

As policy is evolving, the current trend is vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks. Additionally, the CDC recommendation is that you no longer need to wear a mask …outside… alone …or not, but still remain socially distanced. I want to take a side detour on opinion first.

As we were leaving our home, my wife and I had a discussion about this. My position was that for private property reasons, I would comply with mask mandates like Costco has had in place for the entire year. But, if it wasn’t required for entry I wasn’t going to do it. Part of the reason was I wanted to see if anyone was going to say something. But, the other bigger reason was that I wanted to set an example that we do not need to be scared or shamed into the false premise. Based on the numbers I have seen, it sounds like more people are vaccinated than not. My experience last Saturday, it was more like 10-20% of the people were going mask-less.

Our first stop was Saturday Market. They had controlled entry and exit points and a directional traffic flow. The sign at the entrance said “Masks are strongly suggested”. Here we go. We walked in and I flipped down my sunglasses so I could read peoples faces before anything went sideways. Some vendors and some patrons were enjoying freedom but I got no hassle at all. My guess is more people were wishing that they had the gumption to take the mask off. Although, this is the Saturday Market and therefore this is probably an higher compliance demographic.

Next, we went to Costco. I walked into the return counter while my wife went to the bathroom. I saw probably one out of twenty people leaving the store without a mask. When I went into the store, the people that check your card asked me “Are you vaccinated? Do you have your card on you?” I said yep as I pushed the cart past them. A quick aside: No I am not vaccinated so of course I do not have a card. I have had the best vaccination which is the actual virus. The gray part of this is that they don’t really care about safety, it is about limiting liability. I knew that they were not going to force a showdown over proving that I had a vaccine card. It seemed like the longer I was in the store, the more people were not wearing a mask. My theory was that once people saw that enforcement was letting up, they started taking their own masks off.

After we put all of the groceries away, I went to the local grocery store. The sign on the door said that masks were required. I walked right in and right past the store manager. He didn’t say a word. I picked up the few items and checked out. I saw one other person not wearing a mask in the store.

Finally, we went to the local brewery for dinner and a couple of beers. It has been common behavior to have your mask on until seated for the last year. This time, I walked in to the counter to order without a mask. The Brewmaster wasn’t wearing one either, so I knew that we were going to be fine here. Only a handful of people were wearing masks following the wear it until seated protocol.

There are numerous ‘conspiracy theories’ about all of this behavior. But, we are bombarded with propaganda constantly. As I am writing this sentence, the radio is playing a song glorifying the virtues of vaccination. The best one that I have heard as of late is that the real power elites do not benefit from centralized power i.e. one nation leading the world. Therefore, by disrupting the economy and group dynamic this country has become unstable and consolidating power at the top, regardless of geopolitical boundaries.

You can choose to believe that or not but look at the mask mandates are a perfect example. 1) No, not going to work 2) You must wear them 3) If you are vaccinated, you no longer need to wear masks. I saw a couple days ago that e-mails from Fauci are being ‘leaked’ that he never believed in masks (of course he did say it himself last March so I don’t know why anyone would be surprised sources altf4.co, 11/17/2020). Get ready for his fall, he has performed his useful idiocy role in the consolidation of power.

It wouldn’t surprise me is mask wearing becomes the next racism analog. It is easy visible and will be a sign of your affiliation to the issue. I have heard and I believe it that some people will never go back to mask less. They are just too scared to do so. I think that is perfectly fine, I guess we will have to see how the political winds blow for the two groups.

End Your Programming Routine: I could probably write about this for another couple of hours. However, I am not going to change the world. What I can do is help end the fear and give people the courage to start acting human. If more people start asserting themselves, this thing will finally be over.

June 2, 2021 – Recipes and Lies

June 2, 2021 /

In my recent stint of ethnic cooking and looking at recipes I have noticed a theme about times and how they are portrayed. They always seem to be way too short.

For a long time, I have subscribed to and enjoyed the podcast ‘Harvest Eating‘. Way early on, probably within the first 20 episodes, Keith talks a little about the process of testing recipes. This was in the context of producing the cookbook and how recipes had to be tested multiple times to validate everything was correct. He never went in depth about the process and I always wondered what the process was about.

My technique for making something new includes trying to find three or four recipes and look for the similarities. If most ingredients and proportions seem to agree, then I generally consider the premise reliable. Sometimes I am looking to add the outlier ingredients and sometimes I am looking to skip them, it depends on what I am trying to use up or not have something that has very little future use.

I suppose that it goes back to simple/easy conversation a few weeks ago. For the most part, recipes are a collection of steps that build on each other. Those steps can be both simple and easy or one or the other but rarely neither. One of my problems is that often I am looking at a blog on my phone and ultimately goes blank and then I have to scroll through all of the pictures to get back down to the recipe.

But also, I question the twenty minutes of prep that seems to be ubiquitous. Rarely do I see something that is less or more than that. Last week, I made a vegan Bahn Mi that contained tofu, yam. taro root and egg plant. That recipe’s prep time was also 20 minutes and I don’t think I had everything on the counter and peeled in that time. Additionally, cook time was twenty minutes which included frying all of those roots, then braising them with the softer and more fragrant items like eggplant and lemon grass. Needless to say, it took more like an hour and a half to get everything done.

It seems like when chef’s test recipes, it may be coming from someone that has done it a dozen times or more. In addition to that, they likely have a vast experience base of culinary skills and tools. It also might be that they don’t care how many dishes are used to make the dish (I try to minimize the number of bowls, utensils and tools that have to be washed at the end, I think that might slow me down some too). This was my first time using taro root, I wasn’t quite sure how to approach it.

We are having Indian tomorrow, and the Aloo Gabi is on the menu because it is vegan (so my son will eat it) and sounds good. I will give it a test and see. I have to peel potatoes and break down cauliflower as well as get all the spices gathered up. I can be kind of a risk taker when it comes to food and cooking Indian never having done it is one of those things. I will start right after work and we will see if I get it done in time for dinner.

One more quick tip I use is you can reduce cooking time by getting everything out of the refrigerator and allowing it to come up to room temperature (while prepping). It also tends to cook better and more consistently. There is nothing worse than trying to cook something that is almost ice cold with a stir fry technique.

End Your Programming Routine: For making something new, exotic or unknown, I would plan on at least doubling the total time of a stated recipe. Using the concept of Mise en Place you can always delay cooking until everything is staged, but you cant get time back if you start too late.

June 1, 2021 – Happy Birthday Mom

June 1, 2021 /

It has been a few days. Last week was a somewhat busy and hard week. I did little on my project and little on most of anything else. It seemed like stuff kept coming up that got in the way.

Now that the season has shifted towards summer, my focus and dynamics tend to change a bit. A lot of it is making sure that the different plants get some attention so that they can make it another year. I also have noticed through the years that life is busier when the weather gets nicer. For instance, how many people are walking on the sidewalk at 8pm in January? Not many.

At least, over the weekend I was able to buy the majority of the materials to finish my project. All that is really left to buy is finishes, like paint. I also spent a couple hours completing the blocking and framing so I am ready to start the drywall. I had some landlord obligations this weekend and we had a family gettogether yesterday. I washed my pickup for the first time in several years as well.

Today is my mom’s birthday, 70 in fact. That means that she was born in 1951. It is interesting to think about how much has changed in a lifetime. That puts her smack in the heart of the baby boom generation. Born in the idyllic 1950’s, coming of age for Vietnam and the draft and then peaking in the 80s and 90s. Not being there personally, other than maybe attitudes and opinions, I don’t think life was that much different in the 1950s versus the 1970s when I was born.

My dad did some travel when we were young and they weren’t trips where he was home on the weekend. Sometimes, he would be gone for a month before he came back home, so we spent a fair amount of time alone. From my perspective, I don’t really remember much about those days other than it seemed normal.

I think the family dynamic is different and personal. My brother for instance has a largely strained relationship with my mom while my sister’s is fairly close. I fall somewhere in the middle where I see both sides. If we look at characteristic traits, I inherited some of my most distinct views from my mom. Things like frugality, reading, independence, faith and probably some emotional distance are attributable to her.

I can’t say that there is any one particular thing but if I speculate, maybe my brother feels like the middle child and that he wasn’t the first or the favored. We didn’t exactly have a typical 80s-90s childhood, but it was far from being horrible. We lived out in the country and my family didn’t spend money unless it was necessary. I did get my entire college paid for (he got four years paid for), we had annual family vacations and trips and were selectively involved in extra curricular activities.

I think where I fall on the spectrum is that I have come to embrace my individuality. I do need to watch to make sure that some points don’t push into the unhealthy side of my own relationships. It can be a struggle sometimes with my wife being the complete opposite of me but I tend to believe that it brings a balance to life. I can embrace the parts of me that are unique while monitoring that my personality doesn’t squash emotion.

We are having a family dinner tonight thanks to my sister organizing it. I think that it is going to be nice, we have a good time when we are all together. I think the last time that happened was Christmas 2019. Although we are getting together in three weeks again for a family trip.

As I got to know my grandfather (my mom’s dad) later in life, it was definitely worth it. He told me numerous times, that he wanted to have relationships with his family. As much as he said that he wanted it, he didn’t really try to create one. It was more us making the effort. We rarely spent time when we were young with him as he was divorced and my step grandmother had her own family all from before I was born.

It makes me at least understand that my vision of relationship is colored by my experience while my wife would say the same thing which is a whole different perspective. This is all to say that this whole thing is complicated difficult to put into categories. Forget all of that for now, tonight we celebrate.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t think that I did a real good job with this one, I started out with Happy Birthday and degenerated into dissecting family dynamics. I guess that what I was trying to get across is that you are a product of your environment, but it doesn’t have to define your relationships, happiness or future. The one constant with this is to continue to analyze your thoughts and behavior and do what you can to learn and become better from your experiences.